What: All Issues :
Housing :
Funding for Housing Programs :
H.R. 1227, Biggert of Illinois amendment to limit the number public house units to be rebuilt to the number that were occupied before Hurricane Katrina/On agreeing to the amendment (2007 house Roll Call 165)

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H.R. 1227, Biggert of Illinois amendment to limit the number public house units to be rebuilt to the number that were occupied before Hurricane Katrina/On agreeing to the amendment

This amendment, offered by Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), sought to limit the reconstruction of public housing projects in New Orleans to those units that were occupied before Hurricane Katrina.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) said the amendment was necessary because the bill requires the rebuilding of all public housing units that existed before the storm, regardless of whether they were occupied, and recreating large numbers of public housing units would hamstring recovery efforts and "create huge pockets of poverty."

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said such arguments are ludicrous. "This is an issue not about whether you live in the existing units. This isn't about rehabbing existing units," he said. "This is as to what is the obligation to replace the units."

Frank said that Biggert's amendment would reduce by 2,000 the number of units that would have to be built before tearing down things that now exist. "All we are saying is do whatever destruction you want after you have found places to live."

The final tally was an almost entirely party-line vote, with all but two Democrats voting to defeat Biggert's amendment, and all but 2 Republicans voting for it. By a vote of 198-232, Biggert's amendment was defeated, and a bill to provide housing assistance to residents of areas affected by the 2005 hurricanes went forward without a requirement to limit the number of reconstructed public housing units to the number occupied before the storms.